Rejected Zimbabwean Presidential candidate wins court case

OPPOSITION United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA) president Elisabeth Valerio has won her appeal against ZEC's decision to reject her nomination papers and she will be added to the list of nominees vying for the office of the President.
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She becomes the first female Presidential candidate.

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's (ZEC) decision to reject Valerio's nomination papers is premised on the ground that the candidate failed to meet the deadline.

According to the arguments in court, the UZA president settled the nomination fee using the RTGS payment system which failed to reflect the amount in ZEC's bank account on time.

Valerio's lawyer, Alec Muchadehama argued that Valerio's rejection was unlawful.

According to Muchadehama, Valerio complied with section 47 of the Electoral Act which requires an electoral candidate to pay a nomination fee.

"What section 47 simply requires is for a person to put money into the bank and with regards to the application before you (Judge), all she was required to do was to make a deposit into ZEC's account," Muchadehama argued.

"The section does not say there shall be a deposit or proof that there is deposited money into an account."

Muchadehama provided proof that Valerio had paid the required nomination fee, which reflected into ZEC's bank account on June 22.

The proof was further availed to the nomination officer on June 30.

According to the submission by Muchadehama, the decision to reject Valerio's nomination bid was prematurely handed down.

Zimbabwe is primed to hold its general election on August 23 and now 12 candidates are set to tussle for the first office.